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1. Searching with multiple keywords

To search with multiple keywords, separate each word with a space such as "Chromophyta Phaeophyceae".
This will search for strains with either of the keywords.
If you want to search for strains with all of the keywords, use the AND operator, such as "Chromophyta AND Phaeophyceae".

2. Including or excluding words from your search

You can use operators to include or exclude specific words from your search.

A union using sets - OR operator or || symbol

This will search for strains with either of the keywords.
For example, "Dictyopteris OR Acinet" or "Dictyopteris || Acinet" will search for strains related to either Dictyopteris or Acinet.

An intersection using sets – AND operator or && symbol

This will search for strains which contain both of the keywords.
For example, if you type "Dictyopteris AND Acinet" or "Dictyopteris && Acinet", a search for strains which contain both keywords "Dictyopteris" and "Acinet" will be performed.

A difference using sets – NOT operator or ! symbol

The NOT operator excludes strains that contain the keyword after the NOT operator.
For example, if you type "Dictyopteris NOT Acinet" or "Dictyopteris !Acinet", a search for strains which contain Dictyopteris but does not contain Acinet will be performed.

Plus (+) symbol

The "+" symbol performs a search for strains that must contain the keyword which comes after the "+" symbol.
For example, use "Dictyopteris +Acinet" to search for strains that may contain "Dictyopteris" but must contain "Acinet".

Minus (-) symbol

The "-" symbol excludes strains that contain the keyword which comes after the "-" symbol.
For example, use "-Dictyopteris –Acinet" to search for strains without "Dictyopteris" and without "Acinet".

3. Wildcard searches

You can use the following characters for wildcard searches.

Question mark (?) for single character wildcard search

The single character wildcard search will look for images with keywords which match that with the single character replaced.
For example, use "sho?t" to search for "short" or "shoot".

Asterisk (*) for multiple characters wildcard search

The multiple character wildcard search will look for images with keywords that match that with 0 or more characters replaced.
For example, use "Yama*" to search for "Yamamoto" or "Yamada".

4. Range Searches

At an item such as publication year and PubMed ID, you can search strains which be matched between the lower and upper bound specified by the Range Query.
Range Queries can be inclusive or exclusive of the upper and lower bounds.
For example, if you search for strains were published from 2000 to 2010 (including the boundary), input "[2000 TO 2010]" in the year column.
Moreover, use "{1995 TO 2000}" to search from 1995 to 2000 (excluding the boundary).

5. Fuzzy searches

You can use the tilde (~) symbol at the end of a single keyword to perform a fuzzy search
which will look for other words with spelling similar to the keyword.
For example, use "Chondr~" to search for strains related to "Chondria" or "Chondrus".
Furthermore, you can specify the edit distance (positive integer) after the tilde, e.g., "Chondria~2".
Edit distance refers to the minimum number of operations (insertion, deletion or replacement) required to convert the keyword into the targeted word.
For example, when you search with “Chondria~2” as the keyword, the results will include words with the edit distance of 2 such as Chondria and Chondrus.

6. Proximity Searches

You can add the tilde (~) symbol and a number at the end of a phrase to specify the distance of the keywords with one another.
For example, use "Dictyopteris Acinet"~10 to search for information with "Dictyopteris" and "Acinet" within 10 words of each other.

7. Boosting a keyword

You can boost a keyword by adding the caret (^) symbol with a boost factor (a number) at the end of the keyword.
The boost factor must be a positive number and the higher the number, the more relevant the keyword is.
By default, the boost factor of a keyword is 1.
For example, use "Acinet^2 Dictyopteris^0.1" to indicate that Acinet is twice as relevant and the Dictyopteris is one-tenth as relevant.

8. Grouping

Keywords grouped together with parentheses () will be prioritized in the search.
For example, use "(Dictyopteris OR Acinet) AND Dictyotales" to search for Dictyotales that are Dictyopteris or Acinet.

9. Searching with keywords that contain special characters

You can escape the supported special characters (+ - && || ! ( ) { } [] ^ " ~ * ? : \) with a backslash (\) to search for keywords which contains special characters.
For example, use "42\(5\)" to search for 42(5).